How to Simplify Employee Expenses and Protect Your Business Cash
Running a growing business comes with plenty of moving parts, and one of the biggest headaches for many owners is dealing with employee expenses.
Do you ever find yourself:
Constantly reimbursing team members for purchases?
Handing over your company card and hoping for the best?
Scrambling at tax time to find receipts and match them up to transactions?
If that sounds familiar, we see you. It happens to the best of us. Traditional ways of handling employee expenses are clunky, time-consuming, and leave you exposed to risks. Luckily, these days there are smarter ways to do it.
The Old Way: Reimbursements and Shared Cards
Most small and medium businesses start with two common methods:
1. Reimbursements - Employees pay out of pocket, then lodge a claim for repayment.
Pain point: Cash flow pressure on staff.
Risk: Delays in submitting claims, missing receipts, and messy record keeping.
2. Shared company card - You hand your business debit or credit card to a team member.
Pain point: Zero visibility on what’s being spent until after the fact.
Risk: Overspending or misuse, little control.
Neither approach makes life easier for you as the business owner. Both increase admin and put your cash at risk.
The Smarter Way: Expense Management Software
Instead of juggling receipts and repayments, many Australian businesses are turning to software-based solutions like Weel, or Airwallex.
These tools take the hassle out of employee spending by giving you real-time visibility and control.
Here’s how they work:
Virtual or physical cards for each employee - no more card-sharing.
Set spending limits upfront - protect your cash by controlling what each person can access.
Instant notifications - see transactions as they happen.
Receipt capture in-app - employees snap a photo and the expense is logged automatically.
Direct integration with Xero - saving you hours in bookkeeping.
*If you’re not yet using cloud accounting software, READ THIS - we’re big fans and believe it’s the best way to run your business.
The Benefits of Smarter Expense Management for Business Owners
At Kindred Accounting, we see business owners wasting hours every month chasing receipts, reconciling bank statements, and trying to make sense of employee expenses. The reality is:
Cash control is critical - especially with rising costs and tighter margins.
Record keeping needs to be clean - the ATO expects accurate, well-kept records.
Time is money - every hour you spend reconciling is an hour you’re not growing your business.
By using a spend management solution, you protect your cash and simplify your books. It’s one of the easiest wins you can give yourself as your business scales.
*Want to get more time back? Explore our tips on automating your bookkeeping.
Next Steps to Simplify Employee Expenses in Your Business
If you’re still reimbursing staff or passing around your card, now’s the time to rethink your process. With tools like Airwallex and other expense management platforms, you can:
Simplify your record keeping.
Protect your cash.
Save yourself and your team hours of admin.
It’s a small shift that makes a big difference in how smoothly your business runs.
FAQs on Managing Employee Expenses
1. What is the best way to manage employee expenses?
The best way is to use an expense management platform that issues individual cards, sets spending limits, and integrates with your accounting software. This gives you control and real-time visibility, while reducing admin.
2. How do businesses track staff spending?
Businesses can track staff spending through cloud-based software that automatically records transactions, captures receipts, and syncs with Xero. This eliminates the need for manual spreadsheets.
3. Why is giving employees the company card risky?
Sharing one company card means you can’t track who spent what, leaving you vulnerable to overspending, misuse, and messy reconciliations. A spend management tool solves this by assigning cards and limits per employee.
4. Do I still need to keep receipts if I use expense management software?
Yes, the ATO requires records of all business expenses. However, modern platforms let employees upload receipts instantly, so you keep compliant without chasing paperwork.
You Don’t Need to Waste Time on Chasing Receipts and Reimbursing Staff.
With the right system in place, you’ll get full visibility, stronger cash control, and hours back every month. At Kindred Accounting, we specialise in helping business owners put smarter tools in place to simplify expenses and scale with confidence.
